A Time Of My Own
by VanG Ziggy ZA
Summary: FF8 POV from Fujin's eyes through the whole game.
1. Birth, Torture, betrayal and School

A TIME OF MY OWN

By

Vanguard Ziggy

Most people wonder who I am, what is my story. I realize you would not recognize me by the way I am talking now. But to tell my story the only way is to actually talk.

First let me tell you, my name is Fujin. I was a member of the Balamb Garden's Discipline Committee, the second in command actually, right after Seifer. I was also the captain of Edea Kramer's Galbadian forces after Raijin and I followed Seifer out of the Garden. But I'm getting ahead of myself. To tell a story, one must start it at the beginning.

I was born at Fisherman Horizon. Yes, _the_ F.H. Does that surprise you? It does most people. Everyone in the story is born in the larger cities. Of course Squall was born in Winhall so I guess where one was born doesn't really determine your success. I was born on a Wednesday, on a very stormy night. My father was a pacifistic fool, and the only thing my mother knew was how to drink herself into a stupor. I got my gray hair from my father, and my anger from mom.

Five years after I was born, my mother was feeding me when my father came home penniless again. He had tried to tell her that he believed that gil was the foundation of all evil, and that all we needed was loved to get by. To bad that's not the way the world really works. At the time we lived in the corner of an old railroad station, huddled in the dark. "Dad" could have gotten a job when the station was working, but refused because of the Sorceress War. He insisted that Esther was going to use it to invade other countries and that his working for it would have aided in furthering the war.

"Oh damn it to Hyne, Roger, how many times is this going to happen," my mother roared. She gritted her teeth and glared at him with her dark red eyes, that's where I get my red eyes by the way. "Where the hell have you been these last few hours?"

My father smiled and played with his thick mustache. "Now Maria, let's not get too worked up, we have each other that's what counts, right?"

This was too much for my mother. Her body shook like a wild fire took over her body. "Bastard," was her only word. My mother rose to her feet and tossed the only thing she could find, which unfortunately for me, _was_ me. I flew across the station, father made a half hearted attempt to catch me, but he wasn't very fast. I crashed on the left side of my face. I screamed for hours, even though my face grew numb just five minutes after I crashed into the ground. Blood flowed over the rails and down into the gravel.

A normal parent would have consoled me, but my mother rushed after my father, completely insane. As he tried to calm her down, she leapt at him, her claws ready to tear his face off. It was at that time that the last train to use the tracks before the railway closed down, roared into the station, and crushed both my mother and father under its weight. The last memory I have of my parents where their torn bodies, my father's face in a shocked grimace, my mother's face in a demonic scowl directed at my father, the whole right side of her face torn off and under the wheels of the train.

A kindly old woman who lived in a house just right around the corner from the station heard my cries and rushed to my aide. With the help of the train director she got me to a small hospital and away from the grizzly sights.

"Who is this child," the doctor inquired, hovering over my face. I looked up at him and could tell that he was getting nauseous just looking at me. His eyes were growing darker as he stared, and his lips quivered.

I was wearing rough brown clothes, soaked in my and my parents' blood. I hated my clothes, my father bought them for me, and they were three times bigger than what I really needed. Now that I think about it, I have a gut feeling he found them in the trash somewhere, even though he swore they were a gift from a friend. How do I know? Dad didn't have that many friends.

"Poor thing," the neighbor woman said. "Her parents were white trash who lived in the train station where they were killed by the train." The neighbor, Selma was her name, looked down at me, her cold eyes strong and determined. "Can you help her?"

The doctor sighed and shook his head. "She'll live, but there's nothing I can do for her left eye." He sighed and lowered his head. "I suppose we'll have to send her to child healthcare now."

Waves of fear ran down my spine. I swallowed and I could feel tears start to roll down my cheeks. My mother had always warned me of such people. "If you are a bad girl, the child healthcare will come and take you away. If you don't do what I tell you, they'll steal you in your sleep and make you work without any food." Did I mention my mother was a psychotic bitch?

"Well, we can't have that," Selma said, her voice as sweet as honey. "I'll take care of her."

The doctor frowned and looked at her. "Do you have Medicare? Can you take care of such a little child?"

Aunt Selma, I called her aunt because she is the only adult that I really cared about, glared at the doctor and scowled. With a swift kick to the rump the doctor knew that she wasn't such a senior citizen as much as he thought she was. She was truly the jewel in the garbage dump that was my early childhood.

And so I came to live with Aunt Selma for a while. It was one of the happiest times of my life. She taught me how to read, how to cook, and even a few self defense tactics. It seemed that Aunt Selma had been a lieutenant in the Timber army, who had escaped after the capital fell to Galbadia. Imagine my father's anguish over his daughter's living with a military person. She even taught me how to fish. That's where I met one of my best friends; and one of the major pains in my life, Raijin.

It was a Saturday evening when Aunt Selma took me to the docks and showed me how to string a worm on the hook. While I was doing this, I heard a high pitched squeal and saw a dark skinned boy around my own age leaping around as his pole thrashed in his hands. He might have pulled it in correctly had the line not been tied around his legs. His father chuckled and tried to help him, but both of them soon ended up in the water below.

My first thought was, _idiots. _Who were these fools to distract me in my attempts to catch fish? Why would they allow such clowns near the docks? My anger was soon erased by the calm laughter of my aunt.

"First time taking your son fishing, Donald?" she cackled. Her eyes bright and alive, she patted me on the shoulder and rushed over to lend them a hand. The tall dark skinned man with long black hair smiled and accepted her hand.

"Raijin has the reflexes of his mother sometimes," Donald Saiz said with a chuckle. "He has he mother's fear of worms too." He looked over and smiled at me. "Cute little girl, I see she has a little problem with worms too."

White hot anger burned through me. I narrowed my red eye and looked down at the hook. Clutching the worm in my right hand, I squeezed a little and stuck it on the hook, tossing the line into the water as my aunt had showed me. I smirked and looked back at him.

Aunt Selma smiled at me, her face mixed with both pride and sorrow. I knew she didn't like it when I got so angry, but I just couldn't help it. I had too much of my mother's blood in me. I looked down in shame, and didn't feel the tug at my line. Then next thing I knew, I was being pulled closer and closer to the edge of the dock and into the water. I had caught something big, far bigger than I had expected. My mind raced, my heart pounded against my small chest. As I struggled to keep from falling in, the dark skinned boy rushed to my aide, and helped me reel in the twelve pound fish. For such a runt he was strong, and just as determined as I was.

Our eyes meet and I could see he was happy, but a little scared of me. It was my eye patch. It frightened most of the children around F.H. Rage began burning its way through my skin again. It wasn't fair; it wasn't as if I asked for the eye patch, or to lose my eye.

"Are you a pirate," he asked sheepishly.

"What?" I roared at him. Was I a pirate? What a stupid question was that?

He swallowed and pointed at my eye patch. "Are you a pirate? I like your eye patch, ya know. It's cool, ya know."

I frowned. He had to be kidding. "Cool, what do you mean?"

"It makes you look tough, ya know. I wish I could be tough, but I'm always getting picked on." He looked at his feet and swayed his legs back and forth.

His father walked up and smiled down at me. "Well, I stand corrected; you handled that worm pretty good." He chuckled and ran his hands over his son's hair. "You've also brought my son out of his shell. I've never heard him talk _this_ much."

"Perhaps the children will become good friends Donald. I think we should bring the two of them down here tomorrow," my Aunt Selma said, putting her hand on my shoulder. She squeezed it, and I knew better than to protest. That was the beginning of my friendship with Raijin.

My happy days would end a year and a half later. I was six in a half. Raijin and I were down by the docks, fishing when his father rushed down to his, his eyes wide with horror. His face was drenched with sweat and his tongue seemed to have gotten thicker. "Children, he wheezed, "you have to leave."

"Pop, what's the matter?" Raijin shot to his feet, a good foot taller than me now, but still a klutz. His father grabbed his chest and dropped to his feet.

"Son, go to Mr. Hein and ask him for a ride on the boat," he could hardly breathe now. "Your mother is dead son. So is Ms. Angela. Bandits broke in and attacked our house," he collapsed to his knees. "They were from Esther; they wanted Fujin for their sorceress."

My mind raced. Ms. Angela, Aunt Selma Angela. She was dead, because of _me_. I bit my tongue and shook my head. "Liar," I roared at him. I rushed by him, pushing by Raijin. I ran so fast I thought my legs would fall off. I rushed halfway into town, when another neighbor stopped me.

"No Fujin," he said with a harsh whisper. In the air I could see dark smoke rise into the air. "Those thugs are looking for any little girl to steal away. Your aunt died to protect you." My heart began to ache. Tears were running down my cheeks.

"I want to go to her," I said in a low voice.

"She's gone," he told me. "She wouldn't want you to be kidnapped." He grabbed my shoulder and ran with me back to the docks, where Raijin was holding his father's limp body. He put his hand on Raijin's shoulder and gently pulled him away. He led us to the boat owned by Mr. Hein and told him what happened.

Before we left, the man took me aside and looked down with a frown. "It was the mayor who let Esther know about the girls in the town. He betrayed us." Why he told a little girl such a thing, I don't know, but at that moment I knew nothing but hard, cold hatred for small towns.

Mr. Hein took us to another small town, Balamb. Once we got there, a chubby man in a red vest and thick bifocals looked down at us and smiled.

"Hello, Raijin, Fujin. My name is Cid Kramer, the headmaster of Balamb Garden. I received your admissions letters a few weeks ago, but I never expect the unexpected events to bring you two here so soon."

Mr. Hein must have seen my frown because he leaned over my shoulder and whispered in my ear, "Your aunt signed you up for a military school, as did Raijin's father. You both got in." I blinked and felt my heart break a little bit more. So, either way I was to be sent away from the only woman I ever considered family.

Once we arrived at the Garden my worse nightmare came to life. Almost immediately the children picked me out as a human punching bag. They tormented me for the color of my hair, the color of my eye, and the fact that I wore an eye patch. They tormented Raijin too, for being to tall, and for being so soft.

Three days after we arrived I got into no less then ten different fights. One time I was even jumped and pulled into the boy's bathroom. They held me down, and tormented me. They pulled my hair, mocked my F.H. accent, tried to pull off my eye patch. I put up with this on a daily basis for over two weeks. One day, as they had overcome me and pulled me back into the bathroom, a tall blonde boy burst through door.

"What do you want Seifer?" one of the boys demanded.

I had heard of Seifer. He had been the only one besides me to get into the most fights, usually with another student called Squall. He narrowed his thick brown eyes and frowned. "Let her go," he snapped. Right behind him was Raijin. He looked sheepishly at me, knowing I didn't like help in my fights, but I had to admit, this time I was glad that he hadn't done what I asked.

"Are you nuts," one of the boys asked, "there's eight of us, and only one of you." He craned his neck and looked straight at my best friend. "Well, two of you if you count the little cry baby."

David Yoi had pinned my shoulders to the floor, as was normal for the sick freak to do. What he didn't have pinned were my feet. With a swift kick I nailed him right in the groan, and felt satisfied as he dropped like a rock in water.

"Three," I howled, beating off another of the boys. I rose and stood in a defensive posture. Seifer looked at me and smiled. He and Raijin rushed to my side. The group of boys carefully looked at us, considered their options and made a half hearted attempt to fight. To say we kicked their butts was a major understatement. David himself had to be sent home with a broken arm. He never came back.

However, it did catch the attention of Cid Kramer, the headmaster. We were swiftly called to his officer, where he sat in his desk. He glared at us, folding his fingers between each other as he rested his chin on the backs of his hands.

"What am I going to do with the three of you?" he sighed. None of us answered. All he looked at were five unrepentant eyes. He groaned and looked at his papers. "I could have you expelled. But then without parents, you'd be sent to child healthcare." For the first time I felt a tinge of fear, hearing the name of the dreaded organization. Seifer was unrelenting.

"So send us," he snapped.

"Mr. Almasy, that attitude will not be tolerated. Do you understand me?" Seifer narrowed his eyes and folded his arms. Cid Kramer frowned. "I could expel the three of you, but I understand that all three of you are being bullied. You actually work better standing up for each other, and I _was_ going to expel Mr. Yoi for his actions against Fujin and other girls as well anyway." He thought for a moment and nodded. "From now on, the three of you are an important part of this Garden. It is going to be your jobs to make sure the rest of the students obey the dress code and other rules imposed by myself and the staff." He smiled for a moment. "Do you understand?"

"So, we're like cops now?" Raijin asked, blinking.

Cid laughed and nodded. "Of a sort," he said. "That of course doesn't make you three immune to the laws you'll be enforcing, but I suppose you could consider yourselves cops."

"That's a dumb title," Seifer said. "I think I like the Discipline Committee better."

The Discipline Committee, I had to smile at the sound of that. I nodded and look Seifer straight in the eyes. "Agreed," I snapped. That was the beginning of our ten year reign.

Then one day, ten years later it began to fall apart. Seifer, Raijin and I stood in the cafeteria, trying to decide what we should have. The rest of the students gave us a wide birth, especially Luke Yoi, David's younger brother. Like David, Luke was a sexist ass. Unlike David, the fourteen year old Luke knew far better than to drag a girl into the boy's bathroom to torture her. Not on my watch.

Earlier that day, Seifer had come into my room holding his hand over his head. My heart skipped a beat as red blood flowed from his face. I immediately rushed over and helped him to my bed. I ran to my bathroom and grabbed my room mate's towel from the sink. I ran back to my bed and laid it on his head. "Attacked?" I asked.

"You could say that," he groaned. "That damn, Leonheart. I was messing with him, and challenging him to a duel. I didn't mean to cut him," he startled chuckling, groaning as the pain ran through his head. "Actually I do think I meant to. But damn it all I didn't think he'd have the guts to strike back like _that_."

The rivalry between Seifer and Squall was legendary in Balamb Garden. Squall was the only student who didn't fear us one bit. He even challenged to take all three of us on at once. If Instructor Aki hadn't walked by, we would have fought.

"Raijin, I'll get him, and," for one of the few times I was actually communicating with someone in actual sentences.

He shook his head. "Its nothing Fuji," he said, using his little nickname for me. I had to admit I rather liked it, though I would have never admitted out loud. He rose to his feet and gave me back the towel, a long gouge crossing his face handsome face. "We have to get to class anyway. I'm sure Instructor Trepe will have enough to say about the fight as it is."

We walked to class and sat down. Neither Squall nor the Instructor was there. Raijin glared at Seifer and turned back to me, concern etched on his tanned face. "What happened to him?" he whispered.

With my left foot I kicked his ankle as hard as I could. "Idiot," I snapped. He wailed and complained that he was only asking, after which I kicked him again. I felt a little better now. Right after that the Instructor and her little pet walked in the room. Squall sat down in his regular place, right across from Seifer and glared for a moment. The instructor told us there was going to be a field test for SeeD applicants and those that hadn't scored high in the written test were to stay in study hall. I leaned over and bore a hole in Raijin's chest with my eye. If I hadn't been up all night trying to help him study, we would have been going on that test, instead of staying here at the Garden. He sank in his chair, shamefacedly, and crossed his arms.

Seifer, as always though, had gotten high marks on the written test. He would be going again. As far as Raijin or I were concerned, he should have only gone once. But politics forbid his admission into the ranks of SeeD. He was too "reckless" for their little tastes. He took too many chances and "gambled" with the lives of his squad. I bit my lips feeling the iron taste of blood trickle into my mouth. If only Raijin and I could go with him, if only we could join the same squad, we'd be able to back him up. Except I knew there would be "three disgraces" other than just one. The first time he had come back empty handed I knew that Cid would never allow him to become a SeeD. The old man was scared of Seifer.

So there we were, at the cafeteria. Raijin was whining on about just wanting water. Seifer really didn't care what we got. I had just gotten my "allowance" a word I hate, since by being on the Discipline Committee we were part of the inner circle of politics at the Garden. We were employees of the Garden, and thus were receiving pay cheeks, just like the SeeD's did. But because we were not SeeD's, instead of a pay cheek it was called a damn allowance. Anyway, I had just gotten my money, and decided to treat my posse to lunch, before Seifer was to leave. I had actually hoped to try the new cappuccinos that they were offering. As we stood waiting, Squall walked into the cafeteria and stood behind us.

"Hi, Squall," that idiot Raijin blurted out, "you want something? Fujin's treating ya know?" I felt my blood boil. As if _I_ was going to order something for that snot. I kicked Raijin's ankle and turned around. It was a well known fact that the Discipline Committee did not talk to Squall Leonheart.

We stood there a moment longer, and I had finally made up my mind to try the cinnamon cappuccino that had sounded so good, when a blur of blonde hair and blue clothes rushed past us. Us! The damn Discipline Committee!

There stood our favorite punching bag, Zell Dincht. He huffed and puffed, looking at the cafeteria woman. He asked if there were any more hot dogs left, only to discover that the last one had been sold just a few moments before. Now let me just say that I've had one of those hot dogs, and to be perfectly honest, it was one of the grossest tasting things I have ever eaten. Why my classmates kept going on about how wonderful they were, I would never know.

We watched Dincht walk slowly away, defeated and upset. For a moment, non of us said anything. Then Seifer shook his head and sighed. "Running in the halls of the Garden," he groaned. "Let's go arrest that student." He turned and rushed after Dincht. I smiled and nodded, followed by Raijin. I halfway expected Squall to stop us, but he just stood there and watched us go.

After catching, and roughing Dincht up a little, we walked over to the Quad to relax. Of course with our luck that was impossible. A new student, one with a perky brown hair do, and a bright yellow dressed literally bounded towards us the moment we walked through the doors.

"Hi, do any of you guys play an instrument?" she asked in a high, way to perky voice. I already knew that I wasn't going to like this girl. Seifer stared at her for a moment and groaned, motioning us to continue walking. "He, hey, don't ignore me, come on," she wailed, rushing after us. "Look, I just want to know if you guys would like to join the Garden Festival Committee, it's going to be really fun, and," she continued to squeak.

My fingers began to twitch, and my ears were starting to blood with the sound of her voice. I looked over and stared at Seifer, silently pleading him to do something. He smirked at me and grabbed an apple from one of the trees, plopping down to eat it. I turned and looked at the girl, glaring at her with my eye. Maybe no one would notice if I grabbed her and pulled her into the girls' bathroom, and gave her a swirly. I looked at Seifer again, who was chuckling at my discomfort. He knew what I wanted to do, but also knew that I wouldn't do anything against his will. And I knew if I swirlied the girl, the Discipline Committee would get a demerit, and that would possibly cost Seifer his chance of going to the field test today.

"You guy's are really big meanies," she groaned. "Come on, just help us out, what's it going to hurt?" She stared at our emotionless faces and stomped a booted foot. "Meanies, meanies, meanies," she snapped. "Don't you know how to have fun?"

My whole body was beginning to twitch now, and I smirked. _Oh, how I long to show you what I think is fun._ Seifer cackled as he watched me and stood up. About time, I thought. He glared down at the girl, who shut up as she stared into his eyes.

"We're already part of a committee," he snapped. "So shut the hell up and leave us alone." He motioned us to stand and we walked away, leaving the shocked little thing to just stand there. Seifer tossed his apple core into the trash, and we walked back to the main hall of the Garden, where Cid had asked all students going on the field test. They were just announcing the members of the squad, when Seifer's name came up, as the commander of one of them. I smirked. About damn time they let him command one of the squads. Maybe this time he's finally make SeeD. I couldn't believe it when I saw his members, that chicken wuss, Zell Dincht, and Squall Leonheart. I bit my lips. Damn it, they're going to screw him again, I thought bitterly.

At any rate, Cid came down from his throne and began talking about the importance of the mission and the code of the Garden. I groaned as I listened to him babble on, and on, and on. Finally the group was dismissed, and Raijin and I followed Seifer as far as the garage. We saluted our commander, and watched him enter the car with Leonheart, Dincht, and Instructor Trepe. They drove off and we turned around.

"Want to go train in the center?" Raijin asked. I glared at him, and kicked his ankle. He jumped and whined at me. I was used to it. I turned and walked back to the Quad, hoping that the stupid little brunette was still there. I figured they couldn't punish Seifer_ once _he was already on the field test. To my disappointment, she had gone to the field test too. With a groan I walked back to the cafeteria and bought one of the cappuccinos. It was okay, like the hot dogs, nothing to get excited about.

A few hours later I went to Raijin's room and dragged the big lug out of bed. We grabbed one of the cars and left for Balamb. I never liked Balamb; my neighbor's words still haunted me after all these years. We arrived just in time, the ships pulled in to port. Seifer came out, his eyes hard, ready for more action. I inquired how it went.

"Nothing to it," he replied confidently, "but all those two did was get in my way."

I glared at Squall and Zell, who were joined by the annoying little brunette. Gotten in his way why was, I not surprised. I snarled and joined Seifer and Raijin in the car. We waited as Squall and Instructor Trepe talked for a few moments and then Seifer groaned.

Leaping over the seat to the driver's wheel, he started the ignition and smirked as he put the car in reverse.

"Hey, we have to wait for the others, ya know?" Raijin said.

Seifer chuckled under his breath and looked at Raijin. "Said who?" He pressed on the accelerator and backed up, waving at Squall and Zell as we drove off. "The walk will do them good, the chicken wuss was getting too pudgy for his good." For one of the first times in a while I broke out laughing.


	2. End of Semiinnocence and New Alligence

A while later we waited in the second level of the waiting for the announcements of who would be the next group of SeeDs. I glared at the elevator and crossed my arms. "Leonheart's fault," I snapped.

Raijin looked over at me and blinked. "What is, if Seifer doesn't get into the SeeDs?" I nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right, ya know?" As we waited, that freak Dincht did nothing but pace back and forth, obviously driving Seifer nuts.

"Stop that," he hollered.

Dincht stopped for a second, smirked and paced back and forth again. "Free country, Seifer. Just try and stop me." I knew Seifer would have tried, if there wasn't staff watching our every move.

A moment later Squall entered the hall, and talked a while with Zell and the others. The dork Raijin told him exactly what I had said about his responsibility in getting Seifer into the SeeDs.

One of Cid's goons came in, and announced three names; Zell's, Squall's, and another student's. I never did get his name. We watched them disappear, and then reappear thirty minutes later, followed by that damned brunette. I wish I had given her the swirly when I had the chance. We watched them walk out and then, following Seifer's example, we clapped in congratulations to the four new SeeDs.

I had planned to meet with Raijin and Seifer later that night, but I found out that Cid had confined Seifer to a detention room for his "reckless" actions in the field test. My heart sank, and I felt a bitter taste of hate filling my mouth. Rage burning in my heart, Still I knew that I would feel he'd be out the next day. We'd talk and then decide what to do then. I fell flat on my bed, blocking out my obnoxious roommate's rattling on about which cute boy of the day looked at her during class. After she left, I could hear the sounds of laughter and music above me. I knew that they were celebrating the success of their precious four new SeeDs. Rage continued to grow in my body until I felt worn out. An hour later, I slept into a deep sleep.

Ten o'clock in the next morning, Raijin began banging on my door. Gritting my teeth, I rose to my feet and opened up the door. "What?" I roared at him, making him twitch as he stared.

"Um, uh, it's Seifer, ya know?" he gulped.

I held my breath, watching him for what seemed like an eternity. "Continue," I said, still loud enough to make him flinch, but a bit quieter.

"He's raising holy hell, he broke out of detention and is trying to get to Timber, ya know?"

My mind was racing now. Timber? Why was he trying to get to Timber, the city was two hours northwest of Balamb, and could only be reached by an underwater train tunnel. It was controlled by the dictatorship of Galbadia. A flash bulb flashed. That had to be it, yesterday the field trip had been at Dollet, where the small dukedom had tried to fight off Galbadian forces invading, and had called in the Garden for help. Seifer must want revenge, for some reason the Galbadian forces wanted a satellite dish that had been resting in Dollet. Had Garden not issued that retreat, Seifer was determined that he would get everyone of the Galbadian soldiers out of Dollet, and find out what the conspiracy with the dish was.

"He's mad that they sent Squall, that Zell guy and the little brunette on a mission to help the Forest Owls, ya know?" he said sheepishly.

Now that caught my attention. The Forest Owls meant Rinoa Heartily. My heart began to ache. For a moment the year before, he had left the Garden, in the summer; to Timber. There he met a young raven haired woman, whom he clamed to be the one. That broke my heart. I secretly hoped to be the one.

Still it made sense. Now I knew what was going on. Seifer spent a year trying to get Cid to send forces to help the Owls. But politics and greed got in the way. Now for some reason, he had relented. And he had sent Squall.

I kicked his ankle, and rushed to the detention room, dragging him along. My heart pounded in my chest as I glared down at all of the injured students lying on the floor. Blood was everywhere. The fourth SeeD, the one who I didn't know attempted to run by me. I clutched his jacket and spun him around.

"Seifer," I roared, "Where?"

"Gone, he leapt out of the window when Instructor Trepe tried to restrain him," he said, his voice shaking. I had to laugh. Here this boy had seen action just yesterday and yet was terrified of one man and a tiny bit of carnage. Clearly the Garden needed to increase their regulations for who could be a SeeD.

I grabbed Raijin and rushed passed everyone else and headed for the entrance of the Garden. We were nearly there when an annoyingly familiar voice stopped us in our tracks. "Just where do the two of you think you are going?" it snapped.

I swirled on my feet and narrowed my eye, daring Cid Kramer to stop us. The dark brown haired man pushed his glasses up his face and sighed. "I suppose there's no stopping you." He looked down at his hands and fidgeted with a piece of envelope. He looked up and walked up to me. "Who knows, you two might actually calm him down, you have before." He jutted his hand out and placed the envelope in my hands. "Since you'll be going, I have a mission for you."

A lackey of NORG, the Garden Master, rushed up and tried to snatch it away. Not many in the Garden knew who he was, or that he even existed. To this day I'm not sure if even Seifer knew about him. I followed one of his goons one day, about three years before the whole Timber Incident, and caught my first glimpse of the bloated, yellow skinned Shumi. He looked like a big bowl of lemon gelatin, with sunken black eyes, and wearing long purple robes.

"You can't trust them," the teacher snapped, glaring evilly at us under his straw yellow hat. "They're not SeeD's, and they're thugs."

"That's enough of that," Cid snapped. I blinked and looked up at the old man. I would have never thought he would have defended us. "They know Seifer, they know how to calm him down, and besides that, all SeeD's that we have are out on missions, or have been injured."

"You're telling me to trust you?" the faculty member asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm telling you to trust them," Cid snarled. "I do. That should be good enough for you or any of your 'interests'." His body began to shake, and I thought I could see tears of frustration begin to form.

"This is _not_ following, protocol," the other man said, his voice laced with ice.

"Damn protocol," Cid snarled his jaw growing tense. "I want them to go, I am the head of this Garden, and what I say is going to happen." The teacher blinked for a second, studying each student that watched what was happening.

"You are going to regret this action," the younger man snapped. He turned around and stomped off, stopping at two girls sitting on the fountain in the middle of the Garden floor. "You two, get back to class," he snarled after looking at their id numbers.

I looked at the envelope, and then at Kramer. "Give the letter to whom?" I asked.

"To Martine, he's the Headmaster of the Galbadian Garden," he said with a smile.

"But we're going to Timber," Raijin said, frowning as he looked between us. I kicked him in the ankle and nodded at Cid. After all, he had given his trust in us, something I had never thought I would see. The least we could do was a little errand for him.

I convinced Raijin to drop off the letter first, and then we could look for Seifer. Knowing him, he would be able to look after himself. It took three kicks to his ankle, but he finally relented. It was one of the few times I wished I had listened to him. Had we looked for Seifer first, things might have turned out differently.

Galbadia Garden was much different than Balamb; however I had spent two days here last summer. Unlike Balamb, it was red in color, and shaped almost like a dragon, where Balamb was shaped like a bunker. It was much more into military uniformity, and sports. I was quiet a fan of the Galbadian hockey team. Right before entering Martine's main office, I could have sworn I had seen Instructor Trepe walk out, her head hung low, and tears welding in her eyes. I thought about stopping her, clearly she had not seen us, but then it was our turn to see the headmaster, and we were ushered into Martine's office, where I handed him the envelope. He thanked me, blandly and we were ushered out just as fast as we had arrived.

On the way out, Raijin squawked and pointed towards the balcony area. "It's Squall," he called out. The big lug rushed toward the balcony and called out to him. Squall stopped in his tracks, and looked up, frowning as he looked down at us.

The next thing I knew, Raijin grasped my hand and we were rushing down the steps toward him.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked, true emotion filling his voice.

"Cid asked us to deliver a message to the headmaster of the Galbadia Garden." Raijin said, pride filling his tone.

I looked around and frowned. "Seifer, where?"

"Isn't he with you?" Raijin added. "I thought I saw him on television with you in the headmaster's room."

"He's been arrested for trying to kill President Deling," Squall answered emotionally. "They executed him."

My heart sank into nothing. Before I could stop myself, my arms were flying, and my head began to pound. "Lies," I roared.

"Yeah, Seifer wouldn't even put up with a trial, let alone being executed, ya know?" Raijin snapped behind me.

"Search for him," I demanded, my larger partner. He nodded and rushed off after me.

Two days later we returned to Balamb empty handed, just as chaos began to erupt. Somehow NORG had learned from Martine that the strike force the headmaster of the Galbadian Garden had ordered Squall and his group to execute the new sorceress of the Galbadian government. It didn't take long before Raijin and I realized who she was.

"Isn't that Cid's wife?" the big lug asked, eyes wide open. I nodded and felt my blood chill. I had met her once before, but had no idea she was a sorceress.

Now, trying to play politician that he was, NORG was ordering the arrest of Cid, to hand over to Edea for his attack. Students and SeeD's were rushing over the place, their voices screaming as they battled one another. The blood of Balamb Garden ran thick through the floors. Dr. Kadawaki had her hands full taking care of the injured.

Just as I thought things couldn't get any more insane, Squall, Instructor Trepe, and the leader of the Forest Owls rushed forward. Squall seemed a little shaken, and wanted to know if we knew what had happened. Raijin told him what we knew. He then told us that Sorceress Edea had fired missiles at the Garden.

"What! We, we've got to get out of here, ya know?" Raijin gasped, his eyes growing with horror. I kicked him in his ankle and snapped at him to stop being a coward.

I looked at Squall and assured him that we would go to Cid and tell him about the missiles and help with any kind of evacuation that needed to be done.

Right before he turned to leave with his small group, he stared me straight in the eye and asked, "Whose side are you on?" Meaning, were we with Cid or NORG.

"Neither," I said blandly.

"We're on whatever side Seifer is," Raijin continued for me. I nodded in agreement. We rushed off to find Cid, but for a moment, I saw a glimpse of distrust in his eyes.

Last we knew, the Garden transformed into a flight mode, and flew off into the distance.

A week later, I realized why. As Raijin and I were in Galbadia we ran into Seifer, ordering some guards around. He looked at us for a second, and then that familiar smirk which I was so fond off broke across his face.

"Long time, no see," he said. He finished ordering the guards and then motioned with his right hand for us to follow him. The massive size and splendor of Deling City was astounding. "You guys still with the Garden?"

"Not if you're not, ya know?" Raijin said quickly.

"I just might have a job opportunity for the two of you," he said with a chuckle.


	3. Old Rivals, and New enemies

The sorceress gave me the rank of Captain of a special group of her commandos, tasked with one main goal. To find a girl named Ellone, and bring her to Deling City. Raijin was made commander, and was placed under my command, as I took orders only from Seifer.

The sorceress first group had been defeated by Squall and his friends at my old home town, Fisherman's Horizon. She sent us to invade my adopted home town and find her. I had Raijin look around, ask questions, knowing he was to be back for a report in an hour.

Unfortunately, he missed his appointment with me, and each second that passed raised my blood pressure one thousand points. At four o'clock I heard the company dog rush past the hotel where we were staying and I knew he had fallen asleep again. Probably stuffed himself with that damn rotten fish that this town was known for.

Ten minutes later, he rushed forward, bursting through the doors. He didn't get a sentence in. With a spinning kick, I tossed him right back outside.

"Come on, Fujin, give me a chance to explain," he whined. He turned to the guards and asked for their help. Then I heard the sound of a very familiar voice. Dincht. Talking nonsense about liberating this disgusting little town. As if the sorceress had any intention to keep it under her rule. I had every intention of burning it to the ground.

There was commotion, and then Squall and Dincht rushed into the main lobby of the hotel, with the tiny little brunette right on their heels. White hot anger burned through my veins, and I felt my eyes nearly explode. "Rage," I snapped.

"Give it up, Fujin, you can't win," Squall told me. "Are you really going to fight us alone?"

"She's not exactly alone," Raijin chuckled, rushing to my side. He cracked his neck and folded his arms. "Nothing beats a little exercise to wake you up, ya know?"

The fight lasted over half an hour. At one point Squall was laying face first on the ground, victory was in our hands. How we lost, well I blame Raijin, but still we did lose. Worse, I lost my GF, Pandemona as the brunette stole her from my mind.

"So you no longer want anything to do with Garden?" Squall asked, as we talked after the fight. Both of us nodded with that statement. Although we admitted that we were a little worried about Seifer's new path. I knew he had a dream about serving a sorceress, to be her knight.

"Well then at least tell Seifer to knock this whole thing off," Squall said. "He'll listen to you two."

_You would think so, wouldn't you?_ Unlike what Squall was thinking, there had been a change in Seifer's attitude that we couldn't understand.

The brunette tried to continue the conversation, but Raijin started to clam up. I kicked him in his ankle, and ordered him to run. After all, we were now technically Garden's enemy. And Galbadia and the SeeDs were in an unofficial war. It would have been nothing for Squall and his friends to capture us.

We rushed passed to the docks, along with what remained of our soldiers, and boarded our ships. A couple of my troops launched a few smoke missiles, to cover our tracks, and we were gone, heading for the safety of Deling City, and Galbadia's borders.

I tried to sleep many days after that, I even tried to talk to Seifer. However; the more I tried to get close to him, the farther Edea pushed him away from both Raijin and me. Leonheart's words began to burn further and further deeper in my soul.

"Hey Raijin," I began. I still have to laugh at his reaction as I tried to talk to him. It was rare back then when I spoke in such a thoughtful manner, without screaming at him, or talking in half sentences.

"Yeah?" He blinked and smiled at me. He knew where I was going, before I even let him know. Somehow even though he acted like a dork, he always seemed to know, perhaps even more than Seifer.

"What Leonhart said, about Seifer, you think he had a point?"

The big lug lowered his head. It was hurting both of us to even _think_ about Seifer like this. "It's his dream, ya know? He so desperately wants to be the Sorceress' knight." He shuddered, and I caught a tears rolling down his cheeks. "But all the same, we're losing him, ya know? Yesterday I caught him ordering a man to be tied to a post outside the hotel in the city and scourged because he mumbled about the sorceress' new tax plan."

I had seen it too. The man was a foul mouthed ass, but Seifer had him nearly scourged to death. It took seven men with twenty large towels to clean up all the blood afterwards. He'd not only become distant, but a psychopath to boot. There were dreams I had sometimes when Seifer totally snapped, and following the orders of his sorceress, had Raijin and me killed.

"What are we going to do about this?" I asked.

"Like you say, we've got to bare it," he said, trying to put an arm around my shoulder. I glared at him, and his arm darted away. "We're a posse."

"We're a posse," I admitted with a nod of my gray hair flopping in my eye.

A week later, an alarm blared all around us as soldiers rushed passed in all directions. I clutched one's arm, and spun him around. "Explain," I snarled.

"We're attacking Balamb Garden, the Sorceress's orders."

"Why weren't we informed," Raijin growled. The soldier shrugged and rushed slipped passed my fingers. Raijin sadly watched him go and groaned. "Seifer wouldn't purposely leave us in the dark, would he?"

I growled under my breath, and kicked his ankle. Still in my heart, I was wondering the same thing.

We watched Squall and his group run passed us. Just a moment ago we were thought we were going to fight for a second time. But the heart ache and confusion in Raijin's and my chests were too much. We didn't have the heart for it anymore.

"Stop him," Raijin asked, his heart melting as we watched them walk away.

After Edea's defeat Seifer returned back to D.C. and told the Congress that a new, more powerful sorceress would now head the government, one named Ultimicia.

He apologized to Raijin and me. He appointed us higher ranking officials, and asked us to look for something called the Lunatic Pandora, some kind of floating skyscraper weapon the nation of Esthar had built and then buried under the sea. It wasn't long before we found it, and were driving it to Esthar. Once that was accomplished, we faced Dincht, the red haired cowboy who was with him and the former Sorceress Edea. With a quick switch of a button, we sent them flying out of the weapon, and accomplished our mission.

It wasn't long before we were fighting Leonheart again. Somehow he had gotten a space ship and crashed it into the Lunatic Pandora. What was more, they had brought Rinoa, the woman both Leonheart and Seifer had their eyes on, and the instrument in which Sorceress Ultimicia would use to implement her plans.

She was from the future, but had to get her hands on the body of a sorceress in our time. For a while she had controlled Edea, but now that Edea's powers were in Rinoa, and the former queen of Esthar, another sorceress named Adel was being awoken, there had to be a merge between the two women. Then Ultimicia could take possession of the ultra powerful Adel, and rule the world, or so she had lead Seifer to believe.

As we fought Squall, it was certain that we were going to lose again. As I dropped to my feet, I knew that the end had come. Despite his fevered delusions, I knew that Seifer would never win over Leonheart.

His group made its way to the control center, where Raijin, Seifer, and I were waiting. Leonheart looked up and demanded to know what was going on.

Seifer cackled, his eyes glowing with insanity and explained a little bit. Then he turned to us, and chuckled with a low voice. "Let's make our guests feel welcome."

Raijin looked at me and I nodded. We had, had enough. "No, Seifer. No more fighting," Raijin said sadly.

"Hey, people, I thought we were a posse," he said, for a second his eyes returning to his normal state. And in them I could see a tortured soul.

"We are," I said. "But what you're doing, Seifer it's wrong. You have your dream, and we want to do everything we can to make it become a reality. That's why we followed you when you left Garden. But you're not yourself. Seifer, you're doing nothing but eating out of someone else's hands." A tear rolled down my cheek. "We can't join you in this, anymore."

For a moment, looking at him, I thought he was going to attack us, that my horrid dream I had months ago was about to become a reality. Then he smiled at us and lifted his gun blade in a salute. "Raijin, Fujin, it's been fun."

Raijin and I sadly turned and rushed away. Before I left the room, I turned to Leonheart, and silently mouthed the words, "Please, save him."


	4. Final Reflections of the Fantasy

We met up with Seifer again one week later. The world was throwing a massive celebration over the defeat of Galbadia, and the ultimate good news that Adel would never again terrorize the world. As we stood there, on a pier in Fisherman's Horizon, the boys' fishing, we could hear the hum of Balamb Garden floating over head. I had just kicked Raijin into the ocean after his victory dance for catching his umpteenth fish. I knew it would cheer Seifer up, and we all needed a good laugh. We watched the Garden float through the sky, until it disappeared over the distance.

Five years later, Seifer left us, asking us not to follow him. He wanted to find himself, and perhaps apologize to his victims for his crimes. He married, three times, became a pretty famous writer, and finally died at the age of sixty seven as he was writing his memories.

Raijin stayed in F.H. for twenty years, married, became the mayor, and then retired and moved back to Balamb. He and the little town's mayor, Dincht of all people, became good friends. Raijin is still there, and from time to time I get a letter from that big lug.

Me? I never left F.H. again. I became a martial arts trainer, and then a librarian. Finally I tried my hand at teaching normal school and was offered a position in Balamb Garden by Headmaster Trepe-Caldini, but I declined, as I felt it would be too awkward. After all, I never became a SeeD.

I married, fifteen years after the defeat of Galbadia, and adopted three children. While I enjoyed being alone, there are times when my mind raced back to my youth, and I wonder what might have happened had Raijin and I looked for Seifer before delivering that letter still. My husband, David, died three years ago, and all but one of my children have moved away. My oldest, Eric is a high ranking SeeD, who lives near Trabia. His son, my youngest grandson is engaged to one of the brunette's and cowboy's granddaughters, of all children. I hear she's much like her grandmother was at seventeen. How I pity him.

I am now seventy five years old, and have lived three quarters of a century. I've seen things I never thought I would see, done things I'm not very proud of, and experienced more than what most people could think of. And all this time, I've lived in someone else's time, until now. Now I can thankfully say, I am living a time of my own.

FIN

Author's notes; Okay, for the first time that I'm going to say this, this is _not_ the first time I have written a Final Fantasy 8 story, but it _is_ the first time that I have focused my sole attention on one of the characters. This story takes the view of one the so called minor characters, Fujin during the events of the game. I hope you enjoyed it.

One final note, this is one of the few attempts I have done in writing from first person. So while I know its not as good as my other stories, I think I did a good job with this anyway.


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